19:37

Oh dear. The last week has been a Bad one for the former
billionaires sockpuppet Milo Hanrahan (AKA Milo Yiannopoulos / Milo
Andreas Wagner). After the collapse and implosion of his tour Down
Under with fellow right-wing blabbermouth Ann Coulter, Continue reading

18:55

Originally posted on TOTT
News:
The Australian government is one step closer to cracking
encryption. Photo: TechNews The Australian government has passed
anti-encryption legislation compelling companies to grant
authorities access to encrypted information, in a move analysts say
will have vast implications for digital privacy. The new law, which
passed the Senate 44-12 this week,

14:29

New data shows that state and territory governments are
imprisoning women at an alarmingly and rapidly increasing rate more
than double the rate of men.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics
released data last week that shows governments across Australia
are now forcing more than 3,600 women into prisons. This marks an
increase of 10 per cent from the previous year - more than double
the rate of mens, which increased by four per cent.

Ruth Barson, a Director of Legal Advocacy at the Human Rights
Law Centre, said the human and social toll of state and territory
governments funneling thousands of women into prisons is
devastating.

Most women behind bars are mothers and survivors of violence.
They are being separated from their families and communities. We
need a new approach to justice one that prioritises supporting
people, rather than dumping them into the quicksand of the prison
system, said Ms Barson.

This is the seventh consecutive year in which the number of
people in prison has risen. NSW and Victoria have had the highest
overall growth, while the Northern Territory Government continues
to have the highest imprisonment rate in the country.

The data shows that around 43,000 individuals in Australia will
be held behind bars. Ms Barson said the data paints a picture of
governments mindlessly hurtling towards a mass-imprisonment
crisis.

Our justice system is failing it is rife with unfairness and
inequality. Women, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people,
people with disabilities and people falling on tough times are hit
hardest by politicians peddling punitive, lock-em-up laws, said Ms
Barson.

Governments should be working towards reducing the number of
people forced into prisons. There are straight forward reforms like
raising the age of criminal responsibility at which children can be
sent to prison, ending mandatory sentencing, and decriminalising
minor offences like public drunkenness that governments could
implement today that would make a huge difference, said Ms
Barson.

The data also shows that one in every three people are in prison
on remand being held without conviction while their charges are
processed. This is an increase of seven per cent over a 12 month
period. In Victoria, the number of people on remand increased by an
astonishing 22 percent meaning there were almost an additional 500
people who had their liberty removed without being convicted.

Ms Barson said that fixing over the top bail laws is a key
transformation needed to make our justice system fair and
equitable.

Thousands of people in prison in Australia are there not because
theyve been convicted, but because our bail laws are overly
punitive and treat poverty as a crime. Nobody should be in prison
simply because they dont have a home, are struggling with addiction
or becaus...

13:35

One day before stepping out onto the City of Angels
glittery soil, we had no accommodation lined up and zero leads. But
through the magic of Couchsurfing, a guy from Israel contacted
us and said we could stay with him and his two mates in West
Hollywood. Overwhelmed with relief, we gladly accepted this kind
offer.

As soon as we were breathing LA air, we messaged Ali
to inform him that we were on our way to his house. He was happy
that we had arrived safely and only had one follow-up question for
us to answer: Do you guys wanna go to a pool party?

Our tired but 21-year-old hearts skipped a beat. We
couldnt wait to get sucked into whatever scene LA had to offer.
We were here.

After putting down our bags in Alis humble Hollywood
home, we grabbed our bikinis and headed out to some exotic location
with an exclusive guest list. Prior to this, the only guest lists
wed ever been on were the ones you stressfully sign yourself up to
on the same night of the party in order to save yourself 15
precious dollars in the Stockholm club jungle.

We jumped into a messy van with a few guys we had
known for approximately 15 minutes, and we were off. The car ride
was spent getting to know each other, and Sofie and I were shocked
to hear stories about their mandatory two-year military duty, how
they had all turned into officers to serve their country and now,
almost as young as us, had decided to leave their home to live a
little.

Feeling as privileged as ever for having lived a life
only for ourselves, we indulged in deep conversations and absorbed
new knowledge from both ends. The van was heavy with information
and contrasts of way of life when we arrived at the entrance of a
sparkly hotel.

We jump out of the van only to face a crew of high
heeled, beach-wave-haired, blonde babes I had only seen before with
a TV screen separating our worlds. Once inside, I gave myself one
of those up-and-down looks in the floor-to-ceiling mirror. I was
wearing my favourite beige cotton t-shirt, denim shorts and my
not-so-summery Dr. Martin boots, coupled with a very functional
sporty cap that covered my bleached hair and red, shiny nose.
Comparing yourself to others is the poison of this social
media-powered, never-good-enough world, sure,...

12:53

Texts new edition of Helen Garners 1977 novel Monkey
Grip is an opportunity to revisit the books influence on
Melbourne. In addition to being widely considered a classic of
Australian fiction, Monkey Grip is frequently referred to
as an iconic Melbourne novel. Certainly, it is a novel absolutely
grounded in and shaped by place. For Nora, the narrator and
protagonist, it is the locus of the social encounter and emotional
intensity on which the books narrative depends.

11:52

Doctors, lawyers, healthcare groups and domestic violence
services joined community organisations today to deliver an open
letter calling for the NSW Parliament to recognise the right to
safe and legal abortion access in the state.

The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians
and Gynaecologists, Australian College of Nursing, Public Health
Association of Australia and Rape and Domestic Violence Services
Australia are just some of the organisations that have signed on to
the call for reform to the NSW abortion laws.

The signatories to the letter call the current NSW abortion laws
archaic, cruel and degrading, and point to the distress, delay and
financial burden they create, particularly for women in rural and
remote areas.

The criminalisation of abortion leads to negative health
outcomes for women and significantly reduces their autonomy over
their reproductive health said Terry Slevin, CEO of Public Health
Association of Australia.

We need to decriminalise abortion so that health professionals
can provide patients with the best care possible, without fear of
criminal prosecution. It's ridiculous that laws from 1900 are
restricting the ability of doctors and nurses to provide care in
2018," she added.

These laws restrict doctors from providing a full range of
reproductive health services and make it difficult for women to
access the care they need. Modern healthcare best practice makes
women feel safe and in control of their bodies. In contrast, these
laws are harmful, outdated and put real constraints around womens
reproductive choices, said Dr Deborah Bateson at Family Planning
NSW

The action comes just a day after the South Australian
parliament introduced legislation to decriminalise abortion.

Its ridiculous that in this day and age a woman in NSW is denied
the legal right to make decisions about what is best for her
health, her body and her family, said Renee Carr, Executive
Director of Fair Agenda. This week South Australia has initiated
the second reform of its abortion laws. Yet access to this
healthcare in NSW is still limited by laws written in 1900.

NSW is the only state where abortion laws are stuck in an era
when women were considered incapable of making decisions about
their own bodies. Abortion is the only medical procedure that is
criminalised. added Wendy McCarthy, Womens Electoral Lobby
Decriminalisation Roundtable Chair.

NSW stands shamefully alone in failing to reform its abortion
laws for over 100 years. Every day, women in NSW are treated as
second class citizens when it comes to accessing healthcare because
of the criminalisation of abortion, said Adrianne Walters, senior
lawyer at the Human Rights Law Centre.

This is the company behind the charges that the two faced, and
which were used in the federal governments vendetta to get at the
union and its officials. Government representatives made no
secret of this, and claimed that charges showed that the accused
were not fit to hold office in a union.

Forgotten was the little fact that the circumstances of the
charges were suspect and the two had not appeared before a court
and been found guilty yet. The intention was always trial by media
and the hope that ther outcome before the court would be
assured.

But in May, prosecutors dropped the case, because they could not
present the evidence needed to secure a guilty verdict.

For Setka and Reardon, this was an immense relief. It also
proved how flimsy the case was all along. In the light of this
setback, the federal government has been unusually quiet for a
change.

A bonus from the defendants and the unions point of view, is
that documents have come to light, which show that false statements
were made. The accused also have good reason to want their names
cleared.

They were charged with blackmail over a heated exchange
with representative of the company at a caf in April 2013. There
was a dispute over health and safety with developer Grocon, and
Boral had been asked not to supply concrete to the site in
question. The threat bit is, that the company representatives held
that they were threatened with industrial action if they didnt
comply.

To most people this is a normal part of industrial relations
negotiation. Both sides suggest something will happen, if the other
does not go along with what is being put forward. Even this could
not be substantiated. a key company document states in black and
white, that the accused did not threaten.or otherwise make any
unwarranted demand with menaces. This contradicts public statements
made.

Setka and Reardon said in their statement, in initiating and
maintaining criminal proceedings, the company representatives acted
maliciously.

This case and a number of others of a similar nature have far
reaching implications. They mark a turn towards less reliance on
industrial law and more on the use of criminal law to impose
government anti-union agenda and outlaw normal union activity.

Also revealed, is how far the federal government is prepared to
go to manufacture trumped up charges against those it sees as its
political enemies.

Successfully suing Boral will make it a bit harder to do this in
the future.

09:57

Frankly I can't think of
any image or words that will convince the world of people that
Climate Change is now an immediate threat to our lives on this
planet. Only a minority of people give a damn, the majority either
do not believe, or they assume someone else will save them, or they
consider their present lifestyle more important than life itself!
None of this makes any sense to me. The latest chart on Global
Warming should be enough to shake everyone to the soles of their
feet! By my estimation we may only have 30 years before the point
of no return.

We can not as far as I
can see turn the clock back, that in itself is bad enough. City
dwellers may not realise how bad Climate Change is effecting us
already, but those of us who live in the countryside are feeling
& seeing these effects. If we do not take positive immediate
action right now in 2019, then our chance of beating the deadline
is most unlikely. Understand this, THIS IS AN END OF THE WORLD
EVENT! this is not fantasy, this is not
bullshit.

How many people are now
thinking "if this threat was an actual fact, our
government would tell us & would be taking measures to save
this planet"? Understand this: The Australian government
& probably many other world governments are not focused on the
future, their concern is today & how much money they can make
personally. Your welfare, your well being, your lives do NOT matter
to them. These politicians don't even care about their own
families, their children, their grandchildren, their great
grandchildren, their survival is of no concern to them, so why do
you think they give a damn about you?

...

09:29

This situation with my dogs is but one example.
When I bought this house in Earling, it was in order to get away
from the targeting in Seattle.
This bogus protection order taken out on me in the Kent, WA court
had about 15 videos listed on it but NONE had to do with the
petitioners but only and SOLEY dealt with Doug Mesner aka Satanic
Temples founder Lucien Greaves.
Both he and his cult group has sent me constant threatening
emails.
It also said I threatened Algona, WA police but this was a complete
lie as NO charges were leveled at me for doing such a thing.
Later- another filing in Pacific, WA transpired accusing me of
violating the protection order- with a different judge- all the
while Mesner was sending me emails telling me they were going to
have me murdered in jail.
The Satanic Temple has a consistent history of using the courts in
order to attack those they believe are vulnerable or who have
money. The latest was Netflix.
I decided the best decision was to move back home to Iowa and away
from Algona WA.
While trying to sell my house- they broke in and disconnected
wires, knocking out 1/4 of my houses electricity- which I had to
pay a 1000 dollars to an electrician to come in and fix.
All the while I was getting emails telling me to say goodbye to my
house .
When I moved to Earling, IA- the town council had to approve of my
dogs- as they are pits- which they did.
After arriving here- I was still getting emails from Mesner-
informing me that he had already enlisted someone to help him
attack me in the small town.
I was experiencing break ins repeatedly- someone tried to poison my
dogs twice- and all of this was precipitated by emails from Doug-
who was telling me it was going to happen before it occured.
However- the city clerk in town here had befriended me before I
even left Seattle and had keys to my house. So she is the
logical suspect to the break Ins as police couldnt figure out who
was doing it.
She blamed the break Ins on my neighbor- telling me my neighbor was
being investigated for manufacturing meth in her basement- and even
gave me a photocopy of my neighbors check my neighbor had written
to the city for her water bill.
At the time I thought it was weird but now I realize she (and Doug)
were hoping I would publish it on my blog- which would have been a
crime.
In fact the IA Shelby County Sheriff had me in for an hour and a
half recorded interview discussing everything that was happening,
as they realize what is happening is nefarious.
I made a complaint to the city council eight months after arriving-
making a complaint about the city clerk- and directly after- a day
and a half later- a deputy came to my house telling me I had 10
days to get rid of my dogs.
This went to court where they tried to charge me with a crime for
having them- despite approving them 8 months before.
This is...

05:03

It is often not easy to know what is happening on the
other side of the the world, especially when volumes of
misinformation are involved. The present unrest in France is a good
example.

Big media has concentrated on creating a picture of trouble
makers attacking the police, putting up roadblocks and attacking
the police. There are those who suggest that on the one hand that
the political right is behind it. Others that it is Antifa causing
trouble.

All of this evades what is going on. Frustration and danger have
been growing in French society for some time. Emmanuel Macron
won an election, not because the electorate was excited by the
policies he offered, but because they were so thoroughly disgusted
with the usual brand of politicians. He won by default, because
fewer hated him than they did the others. Only the National
Front (Now called National Rally) on one side and the Jean Luc
Melenchon led Unbowed
France on the other, gained genuine bases of support.

Discontent is not unique to France. Its the situation across
Europe and further afield. Even in countries as far away as
Australia.

The difference in France is that Macron began with a
considerable organised movement prepared to defy him, and there is
along French history of getting rid of rulers they find beyond the
pale. Uprisings and revolutions are a tradition.

Seething discontent was already on the boil, waiting for a spark
that would light it. This came in the shape of two truckies and a
woman who started a change.org online petition, teamed together and
the
Yellow Vests came into existence. Peop...

Monday, 10 December

16:06

10 December 2018: Food and agriculture specialist
Devinder Sharma
warns in The Tribune last week that the Indian Government must
keep agriculture out of RCEP trade deal.

The RCEP trade deal currently being negotiated between 16
countries including India, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia,
New Zealand and the ten ASEAN south East Asian countries, covers
half of the worlds population. It has faced significant resistance
from public
health groups, unions, other public advocacy groups, and even
domestic industry in India, where the government last week announced a
study to analyse the impacts of the RCEP.

Sharma warns that the RCEP deal will lead to a flood of cheaper
food imports to India, and is particularly risky at a time when
Indian agriculture is in crisis.

While large companies from wealthier countries can profit
from such agreements, studies show that they turn a majority of
developing countries into net food importers, destroying in the
process millions of farm livelihoods, writes Sharma. He asserts
that the RCEP stands to have huge impacts on Indias dairy farming,
food sovereignty, farming interests and levels of unemployment.

16:00

I am continuing my examination of the scanned copies of material,
arising from Boston, USA, researcher Barry Greenwood's recent visit
to the archives of the J. Allen Hynek Center for UFO Studies in
Chicago.

Classic 1965 case

One Australian case from 1965, which features time and time again
in the UFO literature, happened on 15 July 1965, where a number of
staff at the Canberra Airport reported watching an unidentified
light in the sky during broad daylight.

Within Barry's CUFOS material I located items which I had not seen
before. Firstly, there was a Sydney Morning Herald article dated 18
July 1965 and titled "I talk with the men who saw "that thing," by
reporter Graham Gambie. I will quote from this article:

"Everyone I spoke to here said they were certain that flying
saucers don't exist, but they would sleep a little more easily at
night if someone could prove what "the thing" was."

"The officer-in-charge of Civil Aviation in Canberra, Mr A B
Lindeman, said: 'I wish Mt Stromlo would tell us it was a planet. I
don't like something in the back of my mind I can't
understand.'"

"Dr D B E Westerlund of Mt Stromlo's observatory said that if the
light was coming from the north-east it would almost certainly be
the planet Venus."

"Mr Lindsay said: 'I've been in the job for two and a half years
and I've never seen anything like it before...It wasn't Venus as
has been suggested. I'm sure of that from the position..."

15:50

Let's start of this little skit with a tune from Australia's
favourite children's show host Humphrey B. Bear, with a slight
change of the words which go like this:

What a funny ol' colony is Australia,It gets in all manner of strifeIt leads a very colonial lifeand Human Rights isn't its favourite
fare.

and now a word from our sponsors oops
sorry administration:

You see, Christmas in Australia is not about a child being born
somewhere in Israel, to an apparent virgin mother with no man
officially claiming to seed her (out of wedlock - a huge no-no for
the place and time), but rather a non material deity.

Christmas in Australia is not about family unity or values and
respecting each other.

Your success, worth or value is judged by what sort or present you
put under the Christmas tree.

In this country the administration tells you that you must be a
'better' consumer.

You must purchase more junk the corporations produce and import
into this country to satisfy the balance sheet, run by ex bankers
in charge of the country like Malcolm Turnbull, who was replaced by
the now head of this 'business' called Australia, Mr. Scott
Morrison.

You will notice how much emphasis the news media will put on how
much people spent during Christmas.

The problem with the people in government wanting the tax slaves to
be 'better' consumers is that the people in government are
implementing austerity on the serf population.

This is done via a number of methods which take away the tool
(cash) needed for people to sustain themselves, and hence less
disposable income (whatever that is the tax department defines as)
to spend on cheap Chinese junk, or espionage electronics supplied
by Huawei or ZTE et al.

This Christmas, think about the last twelve months, how the people
in government have locked down Australia's general population with
law that restricts the people's movements, communications and so
called rights, putting aside any official pretexts.

Say goodbye to those 'privileges' you had in 2018, because most of
you chose to ignore the actions of people i...

15:29

14:50

Collective outrage was growing in August 2017, when Australias
mandatory detention regime killed another asylum seeker, Hamed
Shamshiripour, on Manus Island. As argued by Maddee Clark at
Deakins Gender and Sexuality Studies seminar series, the Australian
parliament sought to distract the public from the asylum seeker
issue, and so a two-month long postal survey emerged on marriage
equality.

14:11

My capsule hotel had bigger beds and cheaper rates
than anything else in the area, but it didnt have walls around its
showers. So as I stood in the steam of the sento the
communal bath shared by guests realising what the next week would
have in store, I started to believe that all the woke white girls
were right.

On my left was a row of naked Japanese men, their
skin left pale by the suits that never leave their bodies,
scrubbing themselves clean within exposed shower blocks. On my
right were more bare bodies, sitting over tiny wooden stools with
their legs opened to the wall, lathering their skin and pouring
buckets of steaming water onto their heads to rinse it all
away.

I had entered the room with my soap bottles covering
my crotch, recoiling from the water that splattered off the wet,
hairy bodies around me. But soon enough, I let my toiletries slide
to my sides.

Maybe it was because no one was looking anywhere but
at the walls before them, or because the steam in the air created a
cloud that just slightly skewed our vision, or because these were
total strangers whose knowledge of my body, and mine of theirs,
meant nothing at the end of the day but I had no problem being
naked here.

Bodies are bodies, pubes are pubes, dicks are dicks.
As that thought came into my head, it struck me as one of the most
liberating things a man can think at any point in his life. Night
after night, I went back to shower in the basement of my capsule
hotel, and my clothes would come off a little more comfortably.

And then, one day, a white man walked in.

I had just pulled my face away from the water when I
saw him, a body with paler skin and more hair than the average Id
come to know.

In my mind, he had walked in with a bravado that only
a man with a presumption of having the biggest dick in the room
would carry. I imagined the conversations he would have when he
went home, when someone would bring up the topic of dating an Asian
man and the presumption of his small dick arose, and the stories he
might tell where the punchline would be, Its true!

Ive had to get my dick out for doctors a couple times
in my life, and never had an issue doing it. The idea of being
naked more publicly, though, has always terrified me, because Ive
always been wary of the Asian dick myth.

I know that Im a grower, not a shower, with
experience enough to also know its not a practical issue. But
unless Im 100 per cent erect, you could be forgiven for believing
the stereotype at the sight of my naked body. That means that when
a 21st birthday party gets out of hand and skinny dipping
com...

MSNBC host Joy-Ann Reid expressed the perspective of many
American Democrats, when she quipped that Macron should be running
Washington.

In Britain, he generated the same kind of excitement among the
same kind of people, with Labourite opponents of Jeremy Corbyn
enthusing over the new Tony Blair, even as a new Macron-inspired
centrist party called Renew came into being.

One doubts that the Boy Wonder will feature much in Renews
further history (if indeed it has one), given that recent opinion
polls, conducted in the wake of the heroic Yellow Vest rebellion
revealed him to
be the most unpopular leader in recent times. With
riots, blockades and protests spreading across the country, the
demand for Macrons resignation provided a central slogan uniting an
often fractious movement.

But his failure represents something more than the misfire of an
overhyped media personality. I...

12:03

Weve done a lot of talking about action on climate
change. But governments still arent listening. A general strikle is
a pretty simple way to make them take notice, writes Jonathan
Sri.

Lets start with some hard truths. With a few notable exceptions,
the Australian movement for action on climate change has struggled
to achieve big tangible wins in recent years. Weve had a few
isolated victories, but even if Labor wins the next federal
election and the Liberal Partys position reverts closer to where it
was under John Howard, the likely policy shifts arent going to come
close to whats needed unless theres a strong push from civil
society.

Here in Queensland, a Labor state government (where Labors left
faction already controls more votes than the right faction) is
still allowing the Adani coal mine to proceed, potentially opening
the door to further new coal mines in the Galilee basin. If these
mines go ahead, the burning of the coal they produce will lead to
the flooding of coastal cities around the world, the
desertification of thousands of hectares of farmland and forest,
and more intense bushfires and cyclones.

In defiance of public opinion and basic common sense, the
Queensland Labor government is prioritising the financial interests
of the mining industry ahead of the safety and security of
literally billions of people around the globe. The various forms of
pressure that environmentalists have been applying to Labor (both
through internal and external channels) dont appear to have had
much impact.

So for those of us who dont want our grandchildren growing up in
some kind of dystopian combination of Water World and Mad Max: Fury
Road, what effective courses of action are left available to
us?

Here in Queensland, anti-coal campaigners have used a variety of
tactics to apply pressure on the political establishment, from
peaceful public rallies to locking on to mining equipment. But even
a rally of several thousand people isnt enough to counteract the
undemocratic influence that mining lobbyists are exerting over
senior Labor ministers.

While non-disruptive rallies and marches can help energise and
inspire campaigners and draw attention to an issue, they do not
directly challenge the underlying logic of capitalism, and are too
easy for politicians to ignore. Even the protests against the Iraq
War, which saw around six hundred thousand Australians take to the
streets, didnt change John Howards mind (if the following Monday,
all those people had refused to show up for work, it might have
been another matter).

Lock-ons and other arrestable actions do directly hurt the
profits of the target companies, but when only a very small
proportion of the community are willing to risk arrest, such
tactics cant easily be scaled up to have a big enough impact on
political decision-makers, and the costs of fines and legal fees
start to take their toll on a movement over time.

...

11:13

Members of the Filipino and Australian communities gathered in
Melbournes west on sunday 9 December, to observe Human Rights Day
and celebrate the heroic grassroots efforts of many, to turn around
the ongoing attacks by government, mining companies and other
corporations, which are making life more difficult and
sometimes.

The event was held at the Seddon Scout Hall in Footscray.

Guest speaker, former member of parliament for Northcote and
First Nations leader, Lydia Thorpe, spoke about the worsening
position of her people in Australia, under ever more reactionary
government and the failure to progress on a proper reconciliation
of past wrongs through a negotiated. Although some progress has
been made in Victoria, there is still a battle to ensure that all
First Nations are involved and the final result matches their
aspirations.

Lydia also stressed the importance of all Australians being in
involved, and all parts of Australian society having their concerns
addressed in the treaty process and its outcome.

One thing was made clear, the First Nations of this country have
not been defeated. They have survived, are here today and will keep
on fighting until their rights has been won and future secured.

The Second gust speaker, Sister Patricia Fox, an Australian
missionary, who has been in the Philippines for 27 years and has
recently been expelled, under orders of President Duterte, for her
human rights work.

She has been involved in advocating for the poor and is an
elected member of the National Council of Kataparan (an alliance of
human rights organisations)

Earlier this year, Sister Pat had taken part in a fact-finding
mission to Mindanao, where many cases of serious human rights
violations were witnessed. She spoke of the plight of farmers
losing their land to mining companies and plantation owners, and
the taking away of their right to grow food where they had always
done so, about the increasing use of military action, incarceration
and murder as means of imposing the political will of the Duterte
administration. There is an increasing use of trumped up charges to
convict and jail individuals seen as political opponents of serious
charges, like attempted murder, kidnapping and terrorism. The
Philippines is heading towards a new period of martial law.

Weeks before her detention, she had given public support for for
striking Coca Cola workers fighting terrible wages and
conditions.

Although the situations are very different in each country,
there are nevertheless some worrying similarities. In both, the
political elite has moved in the direction of degrading human
rights, linked to policies designed to enrich the richest few at
the top. In both, government resorts to scapegoating of sections of
the population.

This means th...

07:08

Steven Caruana writes on the prevention of abuses in detention
through the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture.
Today, December 10, is International Human Rights Day. The infamous
Don Dale Youth Detention Centre has in recent times come back into
the public spotlight with the anniversary of the Royal Commissions
findings and an unfortunate []

06:06

Dissident books by Skolnick: Ahead of the Parade,
and The Overthrow of the Republic

by Mary W Maxwell, LLB

It makes me so sad that our institutions have gone bad. Being a
reasonable person I like to think that when I hit an interpersonal
problem I can show the way out by reasoning.

In regard to what we have been covering at Gumshoe about Family
Law, one can easily identify two areas in which ones normal human
reactions have to be restrained.

One is the threat of being held in contempt of court if you to
explain reasonably whats going on.

The other is dealing with police who have now been trained to
see citizens as the enemy. So if you stand up to them they can find
a way to charge you with unruly behavior, resisting arrest, or
whatever. Having committed no crime you now commit the crime of
reasoning. All very frightening!

So according to the Des Moines Register article- this
guy loves money and will do anything he can to obtain as much as he
is able.

This is the thing- those who are attacking me simply pay
others to attack me.

So like everything else- one only has to follow the
money to find the truth.

Im not saying for certain this is the case- but it
certainly warrants investigation.

With concerns to everyone who is attacking me and trying
to set me up.

And trying to charge me with a crime for simply having
certain dogs 8 months after approving them is an obvious set up as
well as not allowing me to register them- which will also be called
a crime probably.

21:15

Boy victim SA1 details the sexual abuse of him at age 11
by the pedophile Frank Houston the founder of Hillsong Global
Church:

The abuse by Frank occurred during one week I was at the Klemzig
AOG camp. It would have been in the summer of 1973 or 1974.

I was about 11. I hadnt reached puberty yet

I remember Frank being around the shower block quite a lot,
seemed to bump into him there.

One time I was going in and he was coming out and as I went in I
saw another boy a few years older standing there with an erection.
My mate, David Haig also noticed it because I remember talking
about it after, as boys would.

The first time Frank touched me was in a shower. I was showering
and he pushed aside the flimsy curtain and stepped in and fondled
me.

The second time was in the dorm. My bed was close to the back
end on the bottom. He came to the bunk, sat down and masturbated me
and had me touch him over his clothes.

On 18 November 2012 boy victim SA1 comments on this my
blog site:

On 18 November 2012 a boy victim that nobody had previously
heard of wrote the following comment on this my blog site:

Sadly, there were more than six kids, Frank was a regular at
youth and family camps in the early/mid 70s at Cudlee Creek, SA (
the church camp) That is where I had my expe...

17:58

Since the late 1960's I have been aware of a series of four UFO
photographs (three of which I have images of) said to have been
taken in Adelaide in 1969. I also recall seeing a completed UFO
report form, compiled by the photographer; in the collection
of the now defunct Australian Flying Saucer Research Society,
although a search of my computer files failed to find a copy of
this form.

Imagine my surprise upon going through copies of documents scanned
by US researcher Barry Greenwood, to find a copy of the original
report form, from Barry's recent visit to the archives of the J.
Allen Hynek Center for UFO Studies in Chicago.

On the form, the photographer David Bryant, gave his age as
"21;" his occupation as "butcher;" and his then address as "5 Alan
Avenue, Campbelltown" in Adelaide, South Australia. However, he
stated that the place of the sighting was "Devon Park, Western part
of Adelaide." Weather conditions at the time were given as "misty
cloud." The date of the sighting is given as "Early June 1969" and
time as "6 to 7am."

The object was first seen at an angular elevation of 35 degrees.
It's light attracted his attention; as well as its movement.
The object appeared as a "solid object - glowing as a series of
light bulbs." It was in view for three minutes. Asked for an
"opinion on propulsion," he wrote, "No idea but lights
revolving very fast." To "Details of structure and shape" he wrote
"A mass of spinning lights."

17:42

When I bought this house in Earling, it was in order to get away
from the targeting in Seattle.

This bogus protection order taken out on me in the Kent, WA
court had about 15 videos listed on it but NONE had to do with the
petitioners but only and SOLEY dealt with Doug Mesner aka Satanic
Temples founder Lucien Greaves.

Both he and his cult group has sent me constant threatening
emails.

It also said I threatened Algona, WA police but this was a
complete lie as NO charges were leveled at me for doing such a
thing.

Later- another filing in Pacific, WA transpired accusing me of
violating the protection order- with a different judge- all the
while Mesner was sending me emails telling me they were going to
have me murdered in jail.

The Satanic Temple has a consistent history of using the courts
in order to attack those they believe are vulnerable or who have
money. The latest was Netflix.

I decided the best decision was to move back home to Iowa and
away from Algona WA.

While trying to sell my house- they broke in and disconnected
wires, knocking out 1/4 of my houses electricity- which I had to
pay a 1000 dollars to an electrician to come in and fix.

All the while I was getting emails telling me to say goodbye to
my house .

When I moved to Earling, IA- the town council had to approve of
my dogs- as they are pits- which they did.

After arriving here- I was still getting emails from Mesner-
informing me that he had already enlisted someone to help him
attack me in the small town.

I was experiencing break ins repeatedly- someone tried to poison
my dogs twice- and all of this was precipitated by emails from
Doug- who was telling me it was going to happen before it
occured.

However- the city clerk in town here had befriended me before I
even left Seattle and had keys to my house. So she is the logical
suspect to the break Ins as police couldnt figure out who was doing
it.

She blamed the break Ins on my neighbor- telling me my neighbor
was being investigated for manufacturing meth in her basement- and
even gave me a photocopy of my neighbors check my neighbor had
written to the city for her water bill.

At the time I thought it was weird but now I realize she (and
Doug) were hoping I would publish it on my blog- which would have
been a crime.

In fact the IA Shelby County Sheriff had me in for an hour and a
half recorded interview discussing everything that was happening,
as they realize what is happening is nefarious.

I made a complaint to the city council eight months after
arriving- making a complaint about the city clerk- and directly
after- a day and a half later- a deputy came to my house telling me
I had 10 days to get rid of my dogs.

This went to court where they tried to charge me with a crime
for having them- despite approving...

15:18

Crooked cops and lawyers are rife in the colony called Australia,
where the judiciary supports their actions.

With the matter of 'Lawyer X' (or Informer 3838), in the public
spotlight now, it seems that the bent barrister's actions were
documented by the Fairfax publication in 2010, under the subtle
headline;Lawyer 'demanded $20m' in the following
article:

The High Court of Australia lifted suppression orders to reveal the
barrister, 'who cannot be identified' represented Mockbel
and other underworld figures while informing against her clients
between 2005-2009.

See also article from 8 Dec 2018 by abc.net.au of the headline:Victoria Police's legal fight to keep Lawyer X
gangland informer secret cost $4.52 million at:

10:56

Back in November 2003 I added the following entry to
correspondence referring to Tingha burials on the AUS-KOORI mailing
list

"Tingha Cemetery Burials by Paul Mackett
Burials at the Tingha Cemetery, New South Wales are listed at the
following sitehttp://guyra.local-e.nsw.gov.au/community/13/1037158961_23481.htmlSome or all of the following are recorded for each burial
Section, Row, Lot, Surname, Christian Name, Age, Burial
Number, Date of Death. The date range is approximately
1886 to 1999.There are 1537 burials recorded as follows

Saturday, 08 December

21:16

15:43

Boston researcher Barry Greenwood recently returned from a two week
visit to the archives of the J Allen Hynek Center for UFO Studies
in Chicago, in the USA. Barry kindly forwarded copies of scans of
documents relating to Australia, to both myself and also to
Melbourne researcher Paul Dean. Paul and I are spending time
looking through all of these documents to determine if there is
previously unknown material in them. I wish to thank Barry for his
untiring efforts in the preservation of these invaluable historical
records.

B-52 aircraft case

Looking through the contents of one file folder I noticed an
uncited Newsletter article, titled "Photographs taken of an unusual
object over Australia." Handwritten above the typed text, were the
words "Australia," "NL'" and "Spring 1965." I have never come
across this sighting. A search via the Internet and also a search
of the NICAP 1965 chronologies failed to find anything about this
sighting. So if any blog readers can add further details I
would be most appreciative. The text of the article reads as
follows:

"A very good friend in Sedalia informed me last November (1968)
that his uncle had taken photographs of an unusual object during
the spring of 1965. The observer was flying in a converted B-52
aircraft on an international aerial mapping project. The aircraft
was flying over Australia. The aircraft was flying at a slow rate
of speed and the bomb-bay doors and the side doors were open.

There were cameras mounted in the bomb-bay section to photograph
the terrain below. The observer saw the object approach the B-52
from slightly behind. It appeared less than a mile away and started
pacing the aircraft. It did so for about 2 minutes.

During this time the observer snapped 3 photographs with a small
camera he had to hand. At least one other crew member saw the
object also. The object disappeared at a high rate of speed.

My friend, mentioned above, saw the photographs about 4 years ago,
just after they were taken.

On 4 inch by 5 inch prints, the object appeared to be a disc, white
in color, not...

Friday, 07 December

23:48

I am Slovakian. The predecessor nation-state was Czcheoslovakia,
now two republics, the Czech Republick and Slovakia. This
article is about the UN Migration Pact which our Foreign Minister
is hoping to wish upon us.

First I have to explain the position of Slovakia in relation to
the UN Migration Pact. Today I was listening, in my car
radio, to our Foreign Minister Mr. Lajk. He signed under the
Pact, and he threatens to abdicate if Slovakia is against the Pact
and Slovakia IS against the Pact.

The public radio-station is financed by the citizens. The shows
topics were Mr. Laj...

21:18

[This post is in response to Me-Ism Is Undoing The Left, Joshua
Dabelstein, New Matilda, December 4, 2018 (A feelpinion has no
place in a contest of ideas, writes Joshua Dabelstein).] In
responding to Joshua Dabelsteins article its a bit Continue reading

We need your support to stop abuses of power and achieve a
fairer society where the fundamental rights that belong to
every one of us are understood, upheld and protected.

Whether its finally freeing the men, women and children who our
government has held in offshore camps for five long
years; changing laws that send 10 year old kids to
jail; or continuing to drag archaic abortion laws
into the 21 century we need your help.

15:47

15:34

The flag-draped casket of former President George
H.W. Bush passes through Magnolia (ABC News)

by Dee McLachlan [Information from G5]

We heard the reports that Senator John McCain was executed by
Military Tribunal.

On 9 October, 2018, G5 wrote, McCain was questioned
by the Military. He lived up to his codename of Songbird. But had
nothing to offer beyond what was already known. He was subsequently
executed (The Espionage Act, Military Tribunal) by lethal
injection. Well hidden by the issue of age and illness. [and
chemotherapy]

G5 has called me an hour ago, informing me that George H
W Bush was also executed by Military Tribunal. His
CIA code-name was Timber Wolf (derived from mongrel
dog), and also called Poppy (for saving the poppy
fields in Afghanistan). I asked about his source. He
indicated that it was direct from the original. He is g...

15:16

Thanks to Tim Andrews for the tip on this. This is not a joke -
it's fair dinkum. Literally. I give you the Australian Senate
Select Committee enquiring into Fair Dinkum Power - chaired by
Sarah Hanson Young. We have lost the plot. Fair Dinkum Power On 28
November 2018...

13:33

13:23

By the time I was thirty, Id been married twice, once to a
woman, once to a man, both times for love and both times because of
borders. Despite thinking I would never get married, to date I have
flipped the saying and been always the bride and never the
bridesmaid. In the last year, Ive been invited to no less than
seven weddings by feminist friends on the radical left and my
Facebook newsfeed has been clogged with many more. None of these
have been visa weddings.

12:36

Why do we let religion rule our lives, but in particular
our deaths? Geoff Russell takes a look at the power of Churches to
prevent people from making the most intimate of
choices.

The fingers that once skipped around the frets and strings of
her guitar made hard work of rolling the little plastic wheel. But
as it finally moved into place, the process began: drip, drip,
drip. Clear sodium pentobarbital moved into the plastic intravenous
line. In a vet surgery the fluid would be green and most likely
just injected. Straight into the heart or perhaps the peritoneal
cavity.

But we arent at a vets.

A single finger moved over an iPad, hunting down letters. The
iPad spoke what she typed: I cant feel anything.

A voice somewhere close to my shoulder replied: In about 30
seconds you will start to feel tired.

The illness had long since robbed her eyes of animation and
silenced her voice. But earlier that morning the iPad had revealed
an intact sense of humour: Please drive carefully, I dont want
to die in a crash.

And then, pretty much on schedule, the barely visible spark in
her eyes began its final fade.

The breathing that had been laboured for months began to slow,
just a little. The lifting chest lifted a little less on each
breath. And then there was one large breath, a slight heave, and
then silence.

We have many euphemisms for dying. We say someone has
gone when we mean dead. Its a little softer and
implies the possibility of return. But there is none. Dead is dead.
But there are many worse things than dying, especially if the dying
has been well organised.

Peggy, about to roll the wheel during her assisted
death in Switzerland earlier this year. (IMAGE: Supplied)

11:40

A private members bill by Kerryn
Phelps MP, and a separate attempt to amend a migration bill before
the Senate, aim to ensure urgent medical treatment is provided to
children and adult asylum seekers who are in grave need.

While noting the Law Council of
Australia has strong and longstanding concerns about offshore
detention arrangements in general, Law Council of Australia
supports efforts by parliamentarians to address the alarming mental
and physical health of children and adult asylum seekers held in
offshore detention.

With respect to children, one child
on Nauru is one too many. Australia is internationally committed to
the principle of acting in the best of the child as a primary
consideration, Law Council of Australia President, Morry
Bailes said.

Removing all remaining asylum seeker
children on Nauru to Australia for medical and psychiatric
treatment is not just medically necessary, but necessary if
Australia is to abide by our international obligations.

Australia also has obligations to
ensure the health and safety of adult asylum seekers in regional
processing centres. This includes appropriate access to key health
services and acting to address the risks of suicide and self-harm
by detained asylum seekers.

The abundant evidence regarding the
health and wellbeing of many adult asylum seekers is grim. It is
essential that Australia acts with respect to adult asylum seekers,
Mr Bailes said.

The Law Council supports ensuring
that asylum seeker families are kept together under temporary
transfer arrangements, given Australias family reunification
obligations.

For children and families, this
measure will minimise the risk of further dislocation and trauma,
Mr Bailes said.

Transfers being proposed are
temporary, so key questions remain about the longer-term situation
of these asylum seekers.

The Law Council would urge the
Australian Government to develop a long term, durable response to
irregular migration and solutions for all refugees and asylum
seekers who are currently in offshore detention
conditions.

This new response should accord with
Australias international obligations, Mr Bailes said.

10:07

He normally goes about his work very quietly, very
humbly. And as the founder of the Sydney Peace Prize, hes normally
in the background promoting other peoples work. But last week
Emeritus Professor Stuart Rees couldnt help but be at the centre of
attention after he was awarded the inaugural Jerusalem (Al Quds)
Peace Prize, at a ceremony at state parliament in
Victoria.

The award was in recognition of his Professor Rees persistent
and courageous advocacy for the human rights of all Palestinians
living in Gaza, the West Bank, Israel, the refugee camps and the
Palestinian diaspora generally.

Professor Rees delivered the first Jerusalem (Al Quds) Peace
Prize lecture as part of the ceremony, and his award was presented
by former Foreign Minister and NSW State Premier the Hon Bob Carr
on November 29, to coincide with the United Nations Day of
Solidarity with the Palestinian People.

Nasser Mashni, chair of Australians for Palestine (AfP) and a
Board Member of the Australia-Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN),
said the choice of Professor Rees would help to highlight strong
global support for a just outcome for Palestinians, felt by
millions around the world.

For all his inspirational work on Palestine nothing reveals more
about Stuart Rees humanity than his belief in a simple anecdote
about a Palestinian refugee who wanted to discuss with Israeli
students his right to return, only to be told you want to kick us
out. No, the Palestinian replied, I simply want to live with you,
Mr Mashni said.

Mr Mashni said Professor Rees numerous books, anthologies of
poetry, and his willingness to write and speak publicly on social
justice issues, have seen him described as one of the most humane
voices in Australia today.

Those issues have driven his indomitable quest to find out what
it really means to be human and to alert us all to our common
humanity, said Mr Mashni.

Professor Rees said he felt very honoured to be recognised from
amongst the many long-committed voices for Palestine in
Australia.

This award comes at a time when Jerusalem is facing great
challenges from influential global powers to its UN-protected
international status, UN Security Council resolutions,
international law and majority consensus. We cannot allow
antagonistic voices to weaken the hopes of so many for a peaceful
and sustainable solution, he said.

Jerusalems spiritual, cultural and legal character are under
serious threat and only a concerted effort of advocacy and activism
by people everywhere, can Palestinians possibly hope to see an end
to their displacement, eviction and expulsion.

The Jerusalem (Al Quds) Peace Prize will now be awarded annually
by Australians for Palestine and the Australia-Palestine Advocacy
Network.

08:59

In context: The Six4Three files are a
compilation of Facebook internal emails and memos that were
recently released by the UK parliament's Digital, Culture, Media
and Sport Committee. The documents outline various discussion
within the company regarding monetizing user data particularly
surrounding the 3.0 platform changes in 2015. Facebook denies all
allegations made by the committee.

Facebook has seen almost no end to public scrutiny since the
Cambridge
Analytica scandal. It comes as no surprise that revelations and
criticisms leveled at the social media titan in recent weeks have
spun the company into
turmoil and had the denial machine working overtime.

On Wednesday, a British parliamentary committee made public
numerous damaging internal emails and documents showing that the
company allowed special access to users data to partner companies
like Lyft and Netflix while denying access to competitors such as
Vine.

Facebook have clearly entered into whitelisting agreements with
certain companies, which meant that after the platform changes in
2014/15 they maintained full access to friends data [sic], stated
Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee Chairman Damian Collins
in his
summary of the document dump known as the Six4Three files. He
adds, It is not clear that there was any user consent for this, nor
how Facebook decided which companies should be whitelisted or
not.

"The documents were selectively leaked to
publish some, but not all, of the internal discussions at Facebook
at the time of our platform changes. But the facts are clear: weve
never sold peoples data."

Facebook quickly responded to the Six4Three files with a
rebuttal saying they were cherry-picked and taken out of
context.

We changed our platform policies in 2014/15 to prevent apps from
requesting permis...

07:56

The following was sent to The Pen by contributor Ugly, and it
is about 16 year old Grace Gardiners appeal to support the effort
to stop deep sea oil drilling near Apollo Bay in Victoria. Grace is
involved with Greenpeace, which has taken on protection of the
Great Australian Bight as one of its important environment
protection projects. This is what she has to say.

My name is Grace, Im 16 years old and
last week I organised a flotilla a floating protest against deep
sea oil drilling in my home of Apollo Bay, Victoria.

Thats me in the middle there, with my
friends Eleni on the left and Hannah on the right

Apollo Bay is a small, beautiful town on the Great Ocean Road,
located just by the sea. Ive lived here my whole life. When I was
much younger, I was kayaking with a mate in the local harbour when
a pod of three dolphins swam up beside us and jumped around for a
while, so close I could reach out and touch them. It was the most
exhilarating and beautiful experience from the ocean.

For us, the ocean is more than just a beautiful view. Its the
lifeblood of our community, with tourism and fishing supporting so
many families here in Apollo Bay.

But big oil companies are planning to drill for oil off our
coast, risking our pristine environment and our way of life.

One thing I love about my community is that we come together to
do incredible things like standing up to those greedy oil
companies.

One little community can do big things! It got me thinking about
what we could achieve if everyone in Australia said no to deep sea
oil drilling.

But we need as many people on board as possible.

As a young person, I care deeply about climate change. My
generation will have to deal with the consequences of the decisions
being made by big fossil fuel companies trashing the environment. I
may not be able to vote yet, but I know that Governments have a
responsibility to do the right thing by the people they
represent.

If enough people no matter their age are talking about
protecting the Bight from oil drilling, our politicians will have
to listen.

Apollo Bay has a population of just 1500 but on the day of our
flotilla, 350 people were out there on the water and on land to
protect the oceans we love from oil drilling despite the wind and
rai...

07:29

07:23

Why do we have an SBS? The quotes from Jane Caro in this story
are the greatest load of gobbledygook you'll read in a very long
time. Media commentator Jane Caro was considering running against
Tony Abbott in Warringah, but she's now leaning more towards
supporting another candidate. Prominent media...

06:11

Arnold Schwarzenegger says he wishes he could travel back in
time like "The Terminator" so he could stop fossil fuels from being
used. So no steel. No heating from coal. No electric lights. No
railways. The dark age. And the UN lapped it up.

05:59

Michael West describes
the failure of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission
(ASIC) to deal with bad behaviour of the banks, when it provided
them with a way out from prosecution, by allowing them to make
charitable donations, which could them be claimed back as tax
deductions.

Here is a troubling fact that has largely escaped scrutiny
during the banking royal commission: for the past 10 years, rather
than being penalised for breaches, it appears the banks have been
receiving tax deductions for their crimes and misdemeanours.
Instead of paying fines, they have been making donations to
charities a no fault solution to dealing with financial offences.
And in more than 70 per cent of cases, there is no record of where
this money has gone.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commissions (ASIC)
decade of deals with the banks began in March 2009 when its then
chairman, Tony DAloisio, struck an enforceable undertaking (EU)
agreement with ANZ Banking Group.

ANZ had been a key player in the spectacular collapse of the
financier Opes Prime, which went into receivership in March 2008
with an estimated $1 billion of debt. Instead of dragging the bank
into court at great cost, DAloisio did a no blame deal with ANZ
bosses, who agreed to complete a program to remedy deficiencies in
operational procedures.

During the past 10 years, the corporate regulator has ramped up
these no fault arrangements with the banks. Rather than prosecute
them, ASIC agrees not to sue, and the banks agree to an enforceable
undertaking in which they recognise ASICs concerns about their
behaviour and make a community benefit payment.

Community benefit payments are often mistaken for penalties or
fines. In reality, they are charitable payments. It appears that,
for 10 years, the banks have enjoyed associated tax deductions for
what should be punishments.

It also appears the banks play a role in determining who
receives their community benefit payments.

An investigation of the EUs by michaelwest.com.au and The
Saturday Paper has found that of the $88.1 million in
community benefits payments made by the banks over the past 10
years as part of EU agreements, $68.5 million has gone to
unspecified parties.

Another $16.6 million has been paid to a company named Financial
Literacy Australia Limited, $2 million to the Smith Family, and
$500,000 to The Ethics Centre.

Since DAloisios ANZ deal, the regulator has struck a further 27
EUs with the banks. All the major banks ANZ, Westpac, National
Australia Bank and Commonwealth Bank have agreed to EUs. As have
Macquarie Bank and a slew of foreign banks, including J.P. Morgan,
Goldman Sachs, HSBC and UBS.

Community benefit payments are often mistaken for penalties In
reality, they are charitable payments. it appears that, for 10
years, the banks have enjoyed associ...

18:12

Despite the obvious disappointment of the Morrison
Government, the nation can build an energy network reliant on
renewables, while lowering prices. Martin Zavan
explains.

Never letting the truth get in the way of a good yarn is an
understandable approach when the Prime Minister is talking about
his exploits on the footy field back in the day. But when hes being
asked to lead a fossil fuel dependent nation through the transition
to renewables, its not only dishonest, but dangerous.

Politicians demand proof, but many seem to have little to no
desire to follow through and obtain the answers they claim to seek.
It occurs too often to keep track of, but something happened in
Question Time yesterday that made me take special note.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten essentially asked the PM why he
couldnt get behind what he called the most widely endorsed energy
policy of recent years, the National Energy Guarantee. Not to
mention it was the Libs own policy just a few months back.

Theres never been a national energy policy that has had more
universal support than the National Energy Guarantee. And why wont
the Prime Minister implement a National Energy Guarantee with his
own energy targets? Shorten mischievously asked.

Morrison responded with his typical bluster, but lets pause for
a moment to examine what he actually said, rather than the
confected outrage that characterised his reply.

Labor have not demonstrated that their 45 percent emissions
reduction target will not push up prices.

Labor have not, and they cannot, demonstrate that their reckless
45 percent economy-wrecking as the Business Council has said
emissions reduction target of 45 percent will not increase power
prices because of course it will increase power prices.

The comments may have fired up the frontbench but they were less
eagerly embraced by those with even a passing appreciation for the
facts.

15:46

Today Australians have lost a brave, patriotic lady, Mrs Wendy
Scurr. We repost Mals article from The Great
Australians: Wendy Scurr in 2016.

by Malcolm R Hughes(4 December,
2016)

This great Australian, Wendy Scurr, became an unplanned heroine
during and after the Port Arthur Massacre in 1996. For those
who have not previously seen the purposely lost word heroine, the
meaning is female hero.

Wendy is happily married to Graeme Scurr and they reside on the
mainland of Australia. Why the mainland? Because they were driven
out of their home state of Tasmania. Why driven out ? For doing the
right thing. You know how it goes these days but Wendy was ahead of
her time, having stuck up for the truth about Port Arthur 20 years
ago.

The Port Arthur Massacre was a Federal and Tasmanian
government-planned event whereby several people...

14:27

The South Australian Council of Social Service has welcomed the
release of the interim report of the Parliament Select Committee on
Poverty in South Australia. The Committee made six recommendations
to alleviate poverty in South Australia, with the first being a
call on the Federal Government to make a meaningful increase to the
rate of the Newstart Allowance (and other base allowances) as a
matter of urgency.

13:02

The Gillard proxy MTDA wasted no time in jumping on the Victoria
Police Informant 3838 issue: Thank you for that comment - you've
prompted me to write a fairly rare response to you. Gillard and
Murphy weren't Wilson's defense (sic) lawyer. Gillard and Murphy
were lawyers for the AWU. They...

I recently made a video about suing the CIA and the hospitals
and universities involved in MK-Ultra. A few minutes ago I decided
to see how many hits it has had on Youtube, so I googled Lawsuits
for MK-Ultra.

To my surprise, up came a 1982 article from the Washington
Post. Author: Jack Anderson. He was a pre-Gumshoe
Gumshoe. Or so it was believed. Let me quote from his
article.

Lyn Dawson, a 33-year-old mother-of-two, went missing on or
around Saturday 9 January 1982.

She was officially reported missing on 18 February 1982, and
despite investigations at the time and over the years, she has
never been located.

In 2015, detectives from the Homicide Squads Unsolved Homicide
Unit established Strike Force Scriven to re-investigate the
circumstances surrounding her disappearance and suspected
murder.

Following extensive investigations, Strike Force Scriven
detectives requested the Office of the Director of Public
Prosecutions (ODPP) review their brief of evidence in April
2018.

Earlier this week, the ODPP provided advice to police, and
following further inquiries, detectives applied for an arrest
warrant before travelling to Queensland.

A 70-year-old Coolum man was arrested by detectives from the
Queensland Police Services Homicide Squad in the presence of Strive
Force Scriven investigators at a home at Biggera Waters,
Queensland, yesterday (Wednesday 5 December 2018).

The man appeared at Southport Magistrates Court on a NSW arrest
warrant, where NSW Police detectives applied for and were granted
his extradition to NSW.

Strike Force Scriven investigators escorted the man on a flight
to Sydney today (Thursday 6 December 2018), before taking him to
Surry Hills Police Station.

The man has been charged with murder and refused bail to appear
at Central Local Court today.

10:09

During Brazils World Cup, the Colombian football team
won the adoration of la copa with their little goal boogie that
featured every game they played. They scored? They danced.

The two actions are inextricably linked. In Colombia,
you dance? You score.

Colombia is where South American culture meets the
Caribbean coastline, and generally, the country boasts more sex
appeal than it does cocaine. The fact that everyone can salsa and
speak Spanish just adds to either your inferiority complex, or the
feeling youve just arrived in your wildest dream.

Either way, these Latinos can dance. If youre going
to turn your bailando into a rumba of a different
kind, you need this fool proof way to looking less like a fool on a
Colombian dance floor:

1. Try to copy
Youre in a market and you dont know what to taste test? Have an,
Ill have what shes having. Ditto for the dirty dance floors of
Colombia. While Im not really an advocate for comparing yourself to
other people, you wont really be having what shes having unless you
move the way shes moving. Leave your inhibitions in that last glass
of aguardiente and focus your but on your butt.

3. Change speed every so often to keep your
partner engaged
By this, once again, were talking about the hips. Always about the
hips. It also will distract from the fact you have no idea what
youre doing with your feet.

4. If in doubt, decorate it.
By this, jazz hands are an option, not as dorky or out of place as
youd imagine. A twirl is also always good. Maintaining an intense
eye contact at this point in time will allow your decorations to
shimmer in the peripheral vision of your partner. Its cheaper than
buying them another drink.

5. Ask nicely, Quieres hacer sexo
conmigo? (Wanna have sex with me?)
This is the blunt, last resort, drunken falling over your own feet
option. If you have to make it this far down the list, youd better
hope your local lover says no, because your hobo coordination will
not be up to the standards required by Colombias second favourite
type of rumba.

Finally, I guess if all else f...

08:04

Contributed by Joe Montero

The Museum of Australian Democracy and the Institute for
Governance and Policy analysis at the University of Canberra have
just released their findings from joint research. It tells us what
everybody knows already, that Australia does not trust politicians
and the existing political institutions.

Central to the research, is a national survey called Trust and
Democracy in Australia. Its importance is that it provides evidence
that there has been a major shift in opinion. A high 86 percent of
respondents in 2007 said that they were satisfied with Australias
Democracy, and this dropped to 72 percent by 2010 and now stands at
a low 43 percent. If the trend continues, it is projected that
trust in politicians and political institutions will fall below 10
percent by 2025.

A strength of this survey is that it examines the shift over a
decade, and eliminates short term distortions. Because it does
this, it provides a fairly accurate pointer, towards where
Australia is going. This is mitigated to an extent, by the fact
that it relies on a fairly small sample of 1021 respondents. A much
bigger sample would likely shift the figures, a little, but not
enough to shift the numbers by much, or deny the revealed
trend.

It is about an alienation form what is currently being called
democracy in Australia.

Contrasting the falling trust in politicians and political
institutions is the level of support for democratic reform, boiling
down to cutting the connection between big donators and the
political process and raising the power of citizens to make
decisions.

Also revealed in the survey, is the existence of considerable
fear of political instability, which would lower the economic
wellbeing of the respondent. Because of this fear, the report
suggests, the disillusionment has not led widespread engagement in
bringing about change, but to the rise of cynicism and
disengagement.

Despite this, the report says: Most Australians are clear that
they do not like the character of contemporary politics on display
in the federal government and democratic renewal is required to
address the democratic pressures that are threatening to undermine
our democratic values.

In response to the findings, the Museum of Democracy, says it is
launching an initiative to rebuild trust. It is called Democracy
2025.

The response is flawed, because it starts and ends with the
assumption that democratic values are tied up with what is, and
that the voters must be drawn back into the fold. The implication
is that the fault does not really lie with politicians behaving
badly and a political system that is not working as its supposed
to. This leads to a second assumption. The problem is mostly about
the mistaken perceptions of Australian citizens.

There is another interpretation. Many of our politicians do
break promises with clockwork regularity, big money buys favours,
corruption...

18:20

ANALYSIS: On any given day they appear to be in furious,
bitter, toxic, disagreement on just about everything. But today,
the Labor Party and the Liberal-Nationals finally found some common
ground opposition to a national conversation about the
appropriateness of changing the date of Australia Day.

Note the national conversation part. Labor and the Libs didnt
just join forces to oppose changing the date itself, they joined
forces to oppose even having a discussion about it, or, God forbid,
consulting with Indigenous Australians on the issue.

Earlier today in the Senate, Greens spokesperson on Indigenous
affairs, Rachel Siewert, put forward the motion calling on the
federal Senate to support all Australians respectfully engaging in
conversations around finding a more suitable date for our national
day. The motion also called on the Federal Government to engage and
consult with First Nations peoples about changing the date of
Australia Day so that all Australians can participate in
celebrating this national day.

Suffice to say, the motion won just 10 votes nine of them were
from the Greens members, with South Australian independent Senator
Tim Storer (former Xenophon Team member) joining the ayes.

Everyone else in the Senate either didnt show up (there were
just 51 votes cast out of a possible 76) or voted against it,
including the Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Nigel Scullion, and
Labor left warriors Doug Cameron and Kim Carr, himself a former
opposition spokesperson on Indigenous affairs. Senators Derryn
Hinch and David Leyonhjelm also voted against the discussion.

Indigenous affairs minister Senator Nigel Scullion.

Notable absences from the chamber were the extreme right fringes
of our parliament One Nations Pauline Hanson, former One Nation
Senator Fraser Anning, and arch conservative Cory Bernardi.

Senator Siewert said she was disappointed at the outcome.

We have seen some exciting developments this year with more
local councils and community leaders working for justice in their
communities, she said.

Its disappointing that after the strong community support for
the Uluru Statement from the Heart and the tabling of the report on
Constitutional Recognition just last week that the major parties
wont even commit to this small step.

16:40

The Morrison Government has proposed a Bill which legal experts
and LGBTI groups say would entrench unfair and outdated
discrimination against lesbian, gay, bi and trans students,
resulting in a stalemate with Labor and the Greens.

One of the amendments would allow religious schools to continue
to engage in direct or indirect discrimination against students
because of their sexuality, gender identity, or a range of other
grounds.

Anna Brown, Co-Chair of the Equality Campaign and Director of
Legal Advocacy at the Human Rights Law Centre, said the Prime
Minister should honour his commitment to remove discrimination, not
entrench new discrimination in the law.

"Students and all Australians have every right to be deeply
frustrated and heartbroken that our Parliament has failed to
deliver on what should be a straightforward reform. Prime Minister
Morrison has broken his commitment to introduce and pass
legislation to protect students in school as soon as practicable.
That commitment was made in October, the changes are very simple
and now in the final days of Parliament we are mired in a
ridiculous debate instead of giving families certainty before the
new school year," said Anna Brown.

"Its outrageous that children can still be discriminated against
by religious schools because of their sexuality or gender identity.
The Morrison Bill would entrench unacceptable forms of
discrimination against LGBT students. We commend the ALP and Greens
for standing up for LGBT young people today and objecting to
amendments that would entrench discrimination," added Anna
Brown.

Karyn Walker, spokesperson for Parents of Gender Diverse
Children, who support 500 families with transgender children across
the country, welcomed the support from Labor and the Greens but
remained concerned about the impact of discrimination.

"We remain extremely concerned for the welfare of all of our
students currently attending faith based schools. We strongly
believe that all children are equal and that Australian law should
reflect that," said Karyn Walker.

Lee Carnie, Senior Lawyer at the Human Rights Law Centre, said
that the amendment would allow a broad range of discrimination
against students because of their sexuality or gender
identity.

"The amendment is incredibly broad it applies to any
instruction inside or outside the classroom. It would allow a
teacher to treat a student differently because of their sexuality,
to exclude that student from classroom activities, or to discipline
them for being transgender," said Lee Carnie.

"It has been less than a year since the Australian Parliament
voted down hostile amendments to the marriage equality bill. We
call on parliamentarians to vote out any forms of discrimination
against LGBT kids in schools this year," added Lee
Carnie.

For interviews call:

Michelle Bennett, Director of Communications, Human Right...

14:10

In 1857, English journalist and author Frank Fowler visited the
colony of NSW and wrote with much excitement that our fictionists
have fallen upon the soil of Australia, like so many industrious
diggers and though merely scratching and fossicking the surface
have turned up much precious and malleable stuff. Fowlers brief
nineteenth-century summation of the Australian literary landscape
still resonates today.

12:53

[6] Richard Witham pleaded guilty to one count on the first
indictment (21543274) namely, being in possession of a traffickable
quantity of cannabis. The amount of cannabis was 80.05 grams. The
date of the offending was 02.Sep.2015. In
brief, Richard Witham was found in possession of the cannabis in a
hotel room in Katherine. He gave evidence to attempt to rebut the
presumption of intention to supply in s37(6)(a) of the Misuse of
Drugs Act. His account was rejected by the sentencing judge. He was
sentenced to 14 months imprisonment for that count.

[7] The second indictment (21556216) contained
three counts for offending that took place in
Gapuwiyak between 07.Nov.2015 and
13 November 2015. Although very late in the overall proceedings,
after a voir dire was conducted, Richard Witham pleaded guilty to
all three counts on that indictment. Those counts were
one of possess a traffickable quantity of
cannabis, namely 224 grams, one of supply
cannabis with the aggravating circumstance that it was supplied in
an Indigenous community and one of possessing
property, namely $24,000 in cash, obtained from taking
part in the supply of dangerous drugs. At the time of the offending
on the second indictment, Richard Witham was on bail for the charge
on the first indictment. For the offending on the second
indictment, he was sentenced to an aggregate of three years
imprisonment, cumulative as to eight months on the sentence for the
offending on the first indictment.

[8] The total
effective sentence was three years and eight months
imprisonment. A non-parole period of two years and six months was
set.

11:53

A bill tabled in the South Australian Parliament today would
promote the right of all South Australians to control their bodies
by removing abortion from the states criminal statute books.

Adrianne Walters, Senior Lawyer at the Human Rights Law Centre
said:

"Every single one of us should have the freedom to control our
bodies and decide what is right for our lives. It is time for South
Australian politicians to demonstrate their respect for womens
health and equality and support the decriminalisation of
abortion."

"Its outrageous that in 2018, a woman seeking access to a safe
medical procedure in South Australia still has the spectre of the
criminal law hanging over her head. As the recent modernisation of
Queenslands abortion laws show, South Australia is out-of-step with
modern community values and medical practice," said
Walters.

The Bill would also create 150 metre safe access zones around
hospitals and the Pregnancy Advisory Centre, which would prohibit
the intimidation and harassment of women trying to access
reproductive health services. Safe access zones are in place in
every other jurisdiction in Australia apart from Western
Australia.

"Around Australia, sensible and proportionate safe access zones
have been critical to stopping the harassment, intimidation and
abuse of women seeking healthcare. No person should have to run a
gauntlet of abuse to see their doctor," said
Walters.

11:49

As a journalist, there are few areas that require more
serious investigation, and more careful reporting, than stories on
sexual violence against women. Thats always been the rule, but not
the case. But in the wake of the #metoo movement, youd think
journalists would be paying special attention.

Someone should probably let Chip Le Grand and The Australian
newspaper know, because last week, theyve perpetrated what could be
one of the most inaccurate and irresponsible pieces of #metoo
reporting weve seen so far this year.

For the uninitiated, Le Grand generally reports on sport.
Somehow, he got assigned to #metoo.

In a retrospective piece noting that its not just the Liberals
who are imploding its also the Greens (a fair point, actually) Le
Grand turns his attention to the recent furore in NSW surrounding
Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham, and the allegations that he sexually
assaulted former Greens staffer Ella Buckland.

Except that thats not really what Le Grand reported. Instead, he
characterised the alleged assault as nothing more than an unwanted
peck on the neck. Well get to that shortly, because it was preceded
by other significant errors.

How can an untested allegation of serious sexual assault become
the daily fodder of a state political campaign? Le Grand asked. For
the Greens, the origins can be found early in the #MeToo movement,
when factional rivals of NSW Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham helped
facilitate the airing of a seven-year-old sexual harassment
complaint against him by Ella Buckland, a former Greens research
assistant.

Firstly, the complaint by Ms Buckland is not seven
years old. The alleged assault is. The complaint was made early
this year, in April 2018.

Secondly, I dont know the inner workings of the Greens any
better than I know the inner workings of the Liberals. But I do
know that Ella Buckland has stated publicly, multiple times, that
no-one helped facilitate her complaint. She has noted that David
Shoebridge a Greens NSW MP with no love lost for Buckingham
referred her to Greens hierarchy after she approached him, having
seen a public social media post Shoebridge wrote in support of
other alleged vict...

11:48

Anyone confused about why the far right in Australia
feels emboldened should probably tune into our federal parliament
some time, writes Joshua Badge.

There have always been those who are made profoundly uneasy by
ethnic and cultural diversity in this country, but as White
Australia began to recede in the latter half of the 20th century
those most intolerant of difference found themselves on the fringes
of acceptable society.

The 1960s saw the rise of the Nationalist Socialist Party of
Australia, but the explicit link to Nazism proved unpopular and the
party dissolved before the end of the decade. Next came the
Australian National Front which campaigned for warm relations with
Britain and deporting non-white immigrants, but similarly fizzled
out.

By the 1980s the militant National Action supplanted these
groups. Notably, a splinter group of National Action engaged in a
spate of assaults and firebombing which a judge memorably called a
months-long terrorist campaign. With striking candour, ASIOs 89-90
annual report concluded that the only discernible threat of
politically motivated violence comes from the racist right.

Abandoning White Australia meant deserting such illiberal
groups, and the public traditionally shunned far-right activity of
this kind. Politicians, for their part, refused to engage with them
or appeal to their sensibilities. In recent years, however, this is
proving not to be the case.

Extremist groups swiftly followed, such as the neo-Nazi
Antipodean Resistance which hosts radicalisation camps where
members
pose in front of swastikas and pledge allegiance to Hitler.
Another group, the United Patriots Front, claims solidarity
with...

In March 2018, when we did the Fringe play My Best False
Memories, we had yet to learn about the sad dealings at the Family
Court. The play was about MK-Ultra and I had in mind children
in Australia like Fiona Barnett (years ago) who might not know that
a good life was available.

Someone gave me the Charter of Rights for Children in Care, so
we printed it as part of the Fringe program. I just came across it
again and read it with new eyes (ahem, ahem).

The South Australia Guardianship Office says:

The Charter is us...

10:39

Contributed from Queensland

Australia does not want Adani to operate a coal mine in
Australia and the Australian and Queensland governments have an
obligation to respect this. The longer they continue to deny this,
the lower the standing these governments will have among
Australians.

It looks like they are so mesmerised by Adanis checkbook, and
too bound up with protecting a dirty industry, that they cannot see
past this.

Adani is an old hand, experienced in the use of bribery
to obtain sweet deals. There have been allegations and more, that
this card has been used in Australia. So far, what has come out is
the used of gifts to politicians and junkets to India for those
whose favours have been sought. If there have been more substantial
brown bags under the table type corruption, we dont know, except
that it has happened in other places. It its happened here too, it
will come out in time.

Now it seems like the same governments are falling in backward
to accommodate the project. Its not good enough. The whole
operation must be stopped. Campaigners against Adani agree, and
they are picking up their activity.

This will hold things up for a while. But this is only a small
part of the campaign at this point. The greatest effort will
continue to be to maintain a presence on the ground and to keep on
building public opinion.

Being Labor, the Queensland government is a significant problem
for the party nationally. Many, and this includes the partys own
base, want it and its leader Bill Shorten to come out clearly and
sate a position that supports the public sentiment to stop
Adani.

10:28

Even though almost all of the
23,000 submissions
in response to the the Santos Narrabri Project were against Pilliga
CSG mining going ahead, locals a still fighting to have their voice
heard.

Determined to forgive ahead, Santos
are laying kilometres of new pipeline to get more gas from
exploration wells, royalty free, to use at the Wilga Park power
station and the The North West Alliance group want to draw
attention to the current gas expansion happening in Narrabri and
the Pilliga State forest.

For over 10 years gas form
exploration wells has been generating income for the gas company,
while not paying a cent in royalties to NSW. It has been estimated
millions of dollars has been missed from going towards essential
areas such as hospitals and schools, all because of a legal
loophole being exploited.

Just recently Santos asked the NSW
Coalition Government for an extra 1000 days to prove the viability
of the Pilliga Gas resource, which was granted.

The Berejiklian government went
against their own departments advice to exempt the
royalties.

This exploration has continued to be
an open ended invitation to conduct production under the guise of
exploration.

Considering the current scandals
plaguing the NSW Dept of Planning, with whistleblowers leaking
information on controversial mining decisions and links to alleged
corruption, the North West Alliance believes that this current
expansion to the Narrabri Gas project should be put on hold until
an ICAC can conduct a full investigation. The integrity of the
whole system is under question.

09:50

A major American corporation with annual revenue of
nearly $3 billion has pulled out of illegal Israeli settlements in
Palestines West Bank, marking a major shift in global corporate
politics around the Palestine/Israel dispute.

Airbnb, which enables ordinary homeowners to rent their houses
or even just single rooms to travellers, made the announcement
earlier this month. While it will continue to list properties in
Israel-proper, illegal settlements on Palestinian land will no
longer be available to customers.

The decision is expected to affect around 200 listings on the
home-sharing website.

Israeli human rights organisation BTselem estimates
there are more thasn 200 illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian
land, home to more than 600,000 people. Israel has long-claimed the
settlements are legal, however international law is clear on the
issue under the Fourth Geneva convention, an occupying power is
prohibited from transferring their population to occupied land.

It targeted both Airbnb, and Booking.com, a major travel fare
aggregator company headquartered in Amsterdam.

Settlements are unlawful under international humanitarian law;
the transfer of civilians of the occupying power into the occupied
territory is a war crime under the Rome Statute that created the
International Criminal Court (ICC), and Palestinian residents of
the West Bank enjoy legal protections against forced displacement,
the report noted.

The business activity that Airbnb and Booking.com conduct helps
make West Bank settlements more profitable and therefore
sustainable, thus facilitating Israels unlawful transfer of its
citizens to the settlements. In many cases, the companies list the
properties as being located inside Israel, thereby misleading
guests about where they will be staying and obscuring the fact that
their payments are benefitting the settlement enterprise. Guests
using Airbnb and Booking.com to book accommodations in Israel, thus
may find themselves vacationing in an unlawful Israeli settlement
in the West Bank.

Airbnbs decision has been widely condemned in Israel, and the US
Government has also attacked the California-based company, with US
vice president Mike Pence, saying that boycotts of Israel had no
place in American commerce.

19:31

Originally posted on TOTT News:
Industries in Australia now require vaccination as a condition of
employment. Photo: Medic.ua Earlier this year, the Australian
government released a directive requiring all staff in Shigh-risk
workplaces to provide information on their flu vaccination status,
including restricting access to work in certain areas for those who
refuse to comply.

14:38

Contributed by Ben Wilson

I didnt think Id ever be saying that Malcolm Turnbulls made a
good point. But he has, by saying that the shifty game played
by Scott Morrison to keep Craig Kelly on board, a capitulation to
the reactionary faction and a weak response, to the threat to a
threat to move to the backbench, if he is not preselected to stand
for the Liberals.

Craig Kelly does not have the support of the local Liberal Party
to be endorsed to stand for the safe seat of Hughes in Sydney. I
thought this might have something to do with inner party democracy.
It is now clear that such feely warmy stuff is not so precious, and
expendable when it no longer suits.

Scott Morrison has changed the rule, using a provision for
emergency powers, so that inconvenient decisions by the member of
the party that threaten the position of a sitting member can now be
overturned by the leader.

Turnbull tried to get the small l Liberals to resist, but it all
came to nothing. In a sense, it might be because Turnbull himself
as a prisoner and weak in the face of the same people, when he was
leader and prime minister.

The main reason, however, is a sense of panic has set in. With
Craig Kelly on the crossbench there would be no majority, and many
of them might fall down the precipice of a sudden and unwinnable
election. None of them want to go out looking for another job
and personal interest triumphed over principle. This is
opportunism plain and simple.

Turnbull has no reason to be fond of Kelly, who played a
prominant role in his downfall, and represents the faction of
Abbott, Dutton and company. Now he can call out enemies with no
threat to himself. This should not stop us from recognising the
truth of what he says. It is foolish not to. After all, when he is
hitting out as his enemies, he is damaging those who most of us
would like to see the end of.

It is certain that this game of Morrisons will have
repercussions in the Liberal Parry, not only because it strengthens
the hand of the most odious section within it and will anger their
opponents within. The shift to top down control over preselection
is not only about one seat. A precedent has been set to make it
easily apply it to other seats. This has created a new battleground
that will soon play out.

The fight over the Kelly preselection is intimately tied up with
the war over the future political direction of the Liberal
Party, being fought from the grass roots up.

It is a sign of the disarray of a party in a political crisis,
where every step it takes gets it deeper into a quagmire it finds
impossible to escape. The Liberal Party is in terminal decline, at
least in the sense of staying on as the government.

The point is that the longer it stays, the greater the disrepute
and disillusionment of Australia, and this builds internal pressure
and a series of breaches in unity.

Those of us outside should take si...

13:08

The switch from the Greens to the Victorian Socialists
represents an encouraging materialist turn. But there remain
reasons to be critical of the new party. In part, my scepticism
stems from the same source as Tollers optimism: many people
involved with the new political party are people who were convinced
of the Greens a few years ago.